Of Mice and Men

Characters
1. Crooks
  1. He is a stable buck for the ranch, he is black and has a crooked spine. He is a victum of racial predjudice as he is "not wanted in the bunk house...cause i'm black". He is also pesermistic as he tells Lennie "you wont get no land". Crooks understand that the american dream wont come true and he foretells this to the audience through his words.
2. Lennie
  1. Has the mind of a child and is innocent and slightly thick. This often gets him and George into trouble as he cannot fit in with society. His child like nature is shown when slim says "he's jes like a kid", he is also shown child like through animalism as he "walked the way a bear drags his paws". Lennie is very happy over the american dream and he is also incredibly phisically strong and because of his child like mind he cannot control it. This leads to the death of the mouse, the pup and finally Curley's wife.
3. Curley's Wife
  1. She is a young, attractive new wife of Curley the bosses son. She is discriminated against and described as jail bait for the way she interacts with characters and the way she dresses. She is also never described she is only ever described by her clothes or hair which are mainly the colour red which has connotations of sultry and danger. But her dreams were destroyed too as she was once ment to be in movies as we see when she reminices about the past when he was "gonna put me in movies", but her dream was crushed. She is the only women on the ranch this makes her bored and lonely.
4. Candy
  1. He has lost his right arm in a farm accident and he owns a dog who he is attached to but is killed by carlson out of mercy. He is referred to as a "tall, stouped shouldered old man", this makes me think he once had pride but now he has lost it and is defeated.
Themes
1. Disability
  1. Crooks
    1. Black
    2. Most disadvantaged
      1. Crook is the most disadvantaged out of the group because he is black. In society in those days black people came at the bottom of the hierarchy.
      2. A quote to show this would be "Yes, ma'am" when Curley's wife threatens to get him killed
  2. Curley's Wife
    1. Only women of the Farm
    2. Represents all Women
      1. No other women appear in the book apart from a reference to a prostitute house. This shows women as object as she is only ever described as in her clothes and what she wears her actuall features are never described. As if she is an object not a person.
    3. Least Disadvantaged
      1. Curley's wife is the least disadvantaged as she is white and she has some power but she still has very few rights and is looked down apon.
      2. A quote to sow this would be "strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny"
  3. Lennie
    1. Moderatly disadvantaged
      1. Lennie is quite disadvantaged as although he is white his is mentally retarded and this means he is shunned from society. It is hard for him to find work and he cannot fit in with other people who don't know him.
    2. Mentally Retarded
  4. Candy
    1. Quite disadvantaged
      1. Although candy got his hand cut off in a farm machine and is old he still is able to get work, is white and is smart this makes him not that disadvanted
    2. Physically disabled
      1. His arm is cut off and he is very old
2. Friendship
  1. Links the Group together
3. Dreams
  1. George and Lennie
    1. George and Lennie both want a piece of Land they can call there own. They want to achieve it through the american dream.
  2. Candy
    1. Hear bout George and Lennie's dream and he wants to join thus he become there friend through this.
  3. Crooks
    1. Crooks wants to be accepted which is why he becomes smart but even the american dream wont allow that.
4. Animals
  1. Nature
    1. Beginning
      1. A the Beginning of the book by the brush the nature is plentiful and in abundance. This could be seen as a reflection of how George and Lennie think their life is going to be like.
      2. Also at the start it is Sunny and bright and the sun has connotations of hope. It can be seen as them thinking they have what they want in their grasp. "yellow sands in the sunlight"
    2. End
      1. In the end by the Brush before Lennie is killed all the nature disappear and a scene is described where a water snake appears in the slient pool and a heron eats it this can be seen as George (heron) and Lennie (snake) is the death scene. Also it aludes to the same this happening as it says "Another little water snake swam up the pool", this shows how no matter how many or who dies people like lennie will always be shunned/die.
      2. Also in the last chapter the sun disappears from the valley when it says "sun had left the valley" showing how all hope is now gone.
  2. Dehumanisation
    1. Crooks
      1. Lives with the Horses
        Crooks lives with the horses and he sleeps in a "long box filled with straw", this puts him on the same level as the horses. He also "Range of medicine bottles, both for himself and for the horses"
    2. George
      1. Lizard
        Lizards are fast and quick witted and George can be seen as this because he is described as "small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features"
        He is also very cautious and this can be seen when he "drank from his hand with quick scoops"
    3. Lennie
      1. Bear/Horse
        Lennie is dehumanised as it says he "snorted like a horse" and that he had "big paws".

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	Created by amyk4321 over 10 years ago